COURTHOUSE — A Philadelphia man who tampered with utility meters to reduce some account holders’ monthly PECO electrical bills, to the tune of nearly $350,000, has generated some court supervision in connection with the five-county theft scheme.

Marcelino Cuadra Jr., 47, of Aramingo Avenue, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to seven years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to charges of corrupt organizations, theft of services and conspiracy to commit theft of services in connection with the meter tampering incidents that occurred in Montgomery, Chester, Bucks, Delaware and Philadelphia counties between December 2009 and October 2012.

Judge Garrett D. Page also ordered Cuadra to complete 60 hours of community service as a condition of the sentence. Cuadra must pay $346,750 in restitution to PECO, the judge said.

With the charges, prosecutors alleged Cuadra went to several businesses and homes and manipulated the electrical meters so that the meters would read less, or at times nothing at all, and in return, the homeowners and business owners would pay him to do so.

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Several account holders who participated in the scheme with Cuadra also were charged and are awaiting court action on similar theft-related charges.

Court papers do not indicate how much Cuadra was paid by account holders to manipulate the meters.

An investigation began in July 2010 when PECO, an Exelon Company and the primary provider of electricity in the Philadelphia region, reported to state police that company fraud investigators “discovered suspicious irregular electricity usage patterns on numerous business and residential PECO accounts located in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties,” according to an arrest affidavit.

“Based on their experience, these irregular electricity usage patterns are indicative of meter tampering,” state police Trooper Kelly Pearson alleged in the criminal complaint. “The apparent purpose of meter tampering is to cause the meter to stop or reduce the registering of electric usage on the account, thus reducing the account holder’s monthly PECO electric bill.”

PECO officials told police that tampering with electrical service is “extremely dangerous” and creates a hazardous condition that could include fire or explosion, according to court papers.

Investigators, who conducted field investigations of the suspected accounts, subsequently identified 25 separate PECO accounts in the five-county area that showed evidence of tampering, according to court papers. The electric thefts totaled $346,750, according to the criminal complaint.

During the investigation, authorities developed Cuadra as a suspect.

“The defendant stated he was paid money by each specific account holder to ‘fix’ their electric meter so that their monthly PECO electric usage bill would be reduced,” Pearson alleged. “The defendant stated both he and the account holder knew what they were doing was illegal and causing a theft of services to PECO.”

Authorities said Cuadra was not a PECO employee, nor was he a licensed electrician, and he had no training to conduct any type of maintenance on utility meters. Cuadra allegedly admitted to buying the specialized tools that allowed him to tamper with the meters, according to court documents.